Nesting and stacking tables are known. Modular tables that can be connected together for use as a single larger table are also known. These prior stackable or modular tables generally are not attractive, not sturdy in one or more of their modular configurations, and/or not convenient to manipulate. If made of quality materials they are often overly complex and correspondingly expensive to manufacture.
I previously invented a modular pivoting table, and entered it in a design competition at a retail store in Chicago in approximately 2005 or 2006. This table was called “Fan Tables”, and consisted of three tables each having a triangular shape with rounded sides, somewhat like a guitar pick, with a base side supported by an arcuate leg or base formed from bent wire or rod. The three tables were each of different height, and pivotally connected by nesting tubular corner legs spaced from their inner corners by circular connectors projecting radially from the corners. The circular connectors in turn were connected to and spaced from the tables by contiguous extensions of the wire base legs running beneath the table tops and projecting from the inner corners. When the tubular corner legs were nested, the three tables effectively shared a single central leg spaced from the tables, with their three nested connectors forming a visible external hub about which they could pivot between a closed position (in which the three tables were vertically aligned or “nested”) and an open position (in which the three tables were fanned apart in a cloverleaf structure). The table top of the upper table had an area larger than the area of the table tops on the lower tables, so that when the nested tables were rotated closed, the upper table surface covered the lower two tables. The tables could also be separated and used independently.
The central pivot legs and connector structures were complex, difficult and expensive to manufacture, and to my eyes not ideally attractive since the connecting and pivoting structures were exposed and visually distracting. The inner corners of the tables were also structurally weaker than the bases of the tables.